Science Topics Textbooks Frequently Misrepresent

Science textbooks consistently misrepresent certain topics—some broad, some narrow. Particularly troublesome areas in modern science education are:

  • Tides
  • Genetics
  • Combustion
  • Simple machines
  • Reflection
  • Circuits
  • What constitutes a “fair test”
  • Why things feel hot and cold
  • Conduction
  • Coriolis effect
  • Bernoulli’s principle
  • Scientific method
  • Greenhouse effect
  • Waves
  • Ecological roles (producer, consumer, decomposer)
  • States of matter
  • Cloud formation
  • How science differs from other disciplines
  • Flight
  • Temperature change during phase change
  • Evolution
  • Contribution of important scientists in history
  • Boiling (and phase changes in general)
  • Diffraction
  • How science advances as a discipline
  • Blueness of veins
  • Electrical resistance
  • Differences among hypotheses, theories, and laws
  • Gravity

All of these science topics (and others) are discussed and explained in the Science Myths Unmasked project.